wolc123

Sianara buddy, I hope you have a good season this year.

Pretty impressive. He could string sentences together quite coherently back then.

I’ll take them if Cory don’t get them.

Do toms get dumb like bucks do when it’s mating season ? On the drive to work this morning (in a no-hunting area) I saw what looked like a big garbage can in the middle of the road far ahead. It was a tom in full strut. He was in the center of the two lane. I had to get on the shoulder to miss him as I drove past. He moved slightly to the other side, blocking off the traffic. That was at 6:54 am in the light rain.

Having a rough time of it are you ? I am sorry if I hurt your feelings.

That’s pretty cool. I saw a black squirrel this morning, which was the first time I ever saw one of those at my place.

Breakfast tomorrow, would probably make a good omelet. Would you have to tag it ?

Yes, and unlike bass at least, wild turkey are not such a “fine food source”, so it’s no big deal if you “senselessly maim” one now and then.

I do, Church this morning with the family.

1st turkey hunt of the spring for me, out back this morning. I heard a total of (10) gobbles from what sounded like two different birds, both less than 200 yards away. Those started about 5:40 and ended before 6:00. I tried a few yelps from my loud mouth call, and the first gobbler answered that with a gobble, then shut up. The other one I heard was a little farther away, about 15 minutes after my calls. Other than that, just made a few clucks with my little wood push button call. I heard two distant shots, just before 6:00. Nothing heard but a few series of “hen” yelps after 6:00. It looks like this blind is needing some work. I will need to cut a piece of 3/4” marine plywood, 2 ft wide and the length of my 870 to patch the floor of the lower (enclosed) level. I will also need to clear away that downed ash and patch the upper deck wall up top with a piece of barnwood.

Maybe it was Sodfather, it was over by Lap. I am back at the house now. The only thing I heard after 6:00 were several “hens” yelping.

I heard (2) shots about a second apart, maybe 1500 yards to my se, about 6:00. I wonder if Tacs is out this morning. I also heard (2) more gobbles, a little farther away than the ones I heard earlier this morning, just before those shots but nothing since.

It sounds like there is one about 125 yards to my sw. He has gobbled 7 times so far, make that 8. They are closer together now. I think I’ll give a few yelps and wait.

Just heard a gobble

Decoy is deployed and I am in position, 5 minutes ahead of schedule.

Pretty much any lumber is ridiculously priced right now. That’s why I am only burning the the rotten stuff from this tear-down.

I think I will coat the ones that I put on the back of the barn with used motor oil.

I think they will hold up well if you keep them covered. I am going to use some for the posts and beams of the open woodshed that I am going to build on the south end of my pole barn. That will be a good test of how they hold up exposed to the weather and prevailing winds.

I think they are. That was the most common wood back in those days. They clean up pretty good with a power washer. Here are some that I used for the loft/workshops in the new barn: After I power washed them, I put two coats of polyurethane on them. That seals them, makes them easier to clean, and keeps the “chestnut” color. There are various crosssections, some about 6” square (used for the beams under the loft floor) some are 9-10” square (used for the front post and beams), and there are a few long ones that are 11-12” square. pm me, if you want to stop and look at them. I will have various lengths available till fall, but after that, only 10 footers.

Happy birthday.

Burried treasure: I am liking these chestnut roofing boards even better. Those on the east side are pretty solid, because I can’t ever recall the roof leaking on that side. Those on the west side are probably all rotted bad, because I remember that side leaking twice in my 57 years, and there is no telling his many times it leaked prior.

A few guys are interested in some of the big hand-hewn beams. Those that I can’t unload before fall, I will cut into 10 ft lengths and stack up under the back pole barn porch . They can’t be left outside uncovered over the winter or they absorb water and turn to powder from the freeze / thaws. I used a lot of the big beams, from the first one that I tore down, to frame a loft and shops inside the new pole barn. I had those stacked outside and tarped over one winter. Those tarps were a pain and are not something I am going to deal with again. I cleared off about 1/6 of the 4 layers of ash-fault shingles today, and there is still a layer of cedar shingles below that. I am trying to get down to the big set of hay forks and the trolley that was hanging from an iron crane rail under the roof. I hope it didn’t get busted up too bad in the fall. I don’t care for heights, and there was no way I was going to try and get that down while the barn was still standing. I also hope to save some of the sawed oak rafters, to use for framing in the back porch of my new barn. I am going to save some of the longer post and beams for building a woodshed on the back of that porch. I saved a decent amount of the siding and granery wood, and it is now stacked neatly in the loft of the new barn, for future project. Besides the wood, I saved all of the iron “1880’s”square nails that were still in good shape.

Although it missed the new barn porch by a little over an inch when it went down last Saturday, it must have caught grandpa’s little 8 point rack, that I had nailed to the corner post : Oh well, Looks like I’ll have to break out the bondo this winter and patch that up.

It was always the same prior years. They throttled back the wants a bit this year, with the 55 plus and 16 and under age restrictions. I think there is a good chance for it to pass this year, considering all those other positive changes that NY made for us deer hunters last year. It seems that they are listening to the majority of hunters, and unshackling us, so they can get a little better handle on the deer population. If any of the anti crossbow (8) here get too upset over passage, I think Oregon is the last holdout in the lower 48 that still allows no crossbow usage for big game.

I have not had time to do any additional shotgun patterning, as I take on the somewhat daunting task of cleaning up the wreckage from this old barn, in my “spare” time. I was out shoveling shingles since sunrise and didn’t hear any gobbles out back. I am still going to give it a shot (with my 12 ga and extra full choke, 3” lead # 5 shot) tomorrow morning.